(b.) His character as a Prophet is, from the nature of the case, more distinctly brought out. He is the first as he is the greatest example of a prophet in the O. T. The name is, indeed, applied to Abraham before (Gen. XX, 7), but so casually as not to enforce our attention. But in the case of Moses it is given with peculiar em- phasis. In a certain sense he appears as the centre of a prophetic circle, now for the first time named. His brother and sister were both endowed with prophetic gifts. Aaron's fluent speech enabled him to act the part of prophet for Jloses in the first instance ; and Mir- iam is expressly called " the Prophetess." The seven- ty elders, and Eldad and Medad also, all " prophesied" (Numb, xi, 25-27). But IMoses (at least after the ex- odus) rose high above all these. The others are spoken of as more or less inferior. Their communications were made to them in dreams and figures (Deut. xiii, 1-4 ; Numb, xii, G). But " Moses was not so." "With him the divine revelations were made "mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches, and the si- militude of Jehovah shall he behold" (Nimib. xii, 8). In the Jlussulman legends his surname is Kelim A llali, " the spoken to bj' God." Of the especial modes of this more direct communication four great examples are given, corresponding to four critical epochs in his his- torical career, which help us in some degree to under- stand what is meant by these expressions in the sacred text. See Prophet.
(1.) The appearance of the divine Presence in the flaming acacia-tree has already been noticed. The usu- al pictorial representations of that scene — of a winged human form in the midst of the bush — belong to Philo (T'. M. i, 12), not to the Bible. No form is described. " The angel" or " messenger" is spoken of as being "<iu the flame." On this it was that Moses was afraid to look, and hid his face in order to hear the divine voice (Exod. iii, 2-6). See Burning Busir.
(2.) In the giving of the Law from Mount Sinai, the outward form of the revelation was a thick darkness, as of a thunder-cloud, out of which proceeded a voice (Exod. xix, 19 ; xx, 21). The revelation on this occasion was especially of the name of Jehovah. Outside this cloud JMoses himself remained on the mountain (Exod. xxiv, 1, 2, 15), and received the voice, as from the cloud, which revealed the Ten Commandments, and a short code of laws in addition (Exod. xx-xxiii). On two
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occasions he is described as having penetrated within the darliness, and remained there successively for two periods of forty days, spent in sechision and fasting (Exod. xxiv, 18; xxxiv, 28). On the first occasion he received instructions respecting the tabernacle, from "a pattern showed to him" (xxv, 9, 40; xxvi, xxvii), and respecting the jiricsthood (xxviii-xxxi). Of the sec- ond occasion hardly anything is told us (see Ortlob, De jejunio Jfosi.i [Lips. 1702]). But each of these periods was concluded by the production of the two slabs or ta- bles of granite containing the successive editions of the Ten Commandments (Exod. xxxii, 15, 16). On the first of the two occasions the ten moral commandments are undoubtedly those commonly so called (comp. Exod. XX, 1-17; xxxii, 15; Deut. v, 6-22). On the second occasion some interpreters (taking the literal sense of Exod. xxxiv, 27, 28) hold that tliey were the ten (chiefly) ceremonial commandments of Exod. xxxiv, 14-26; but thej' were evidently the same as before. The first are expressly said to have been the writing of God (Exod. xxxi, 18 ; xxxii, 16 ; Deut. v, 22) ; with respect to the second, the phraseology is ambiguous ('• he wrote," Exod. xxxiv, 28), and hence some have held them to be merely the writing of Moses — contra- ry, however, to the language of Exod. xxxiv, 1. Sec Law of jMoses.
(3.) It was nearly at the close of those communica- tions in the mountains of Sinai that an especial revela- tion was made to him personally, answering in some degree to that which first called him to his mission. In the despondency produced by the apostasy of the molten calf, he besought Jehovah to show him " his glory." The wish was thoroughly Egyptian. The same is re- corded of Amenoph, the Pharaoh ]ireoeding the exodus. But the divine answer is thoroughly Hiblical. It an- nounced that an actual vision of (iod was impossible. " Thou canst not see my face ; for there shall no man see my face and live." He was commanded to come aLsolutely alone. Even the flocks and herds which fed in the neighboring valleys were to be removed out of the sight of the mountain (Exod. xxxiii, 18, 20; xxxiv, 1,3). He took his place on a well-known or prominc.it rock ("the rock") (xxxiii, 21). The cloud passed by (xxxiii, 22; xxxiv, 5). A voice proclaimed the two immutable attributes of God, Justice and Love, in words which became part of the religious creed of Israel and of the world (xxxiv, 6, 7). The importance of this in- cident in the life of Closes is attested not merely by the place which it occupies in the sacred record, but by the deep hold that it has taken of the Mussulman tradi- tions and the local legends of jMount Sinai. It is told, with some characteristic variations, in the Koran (vii, 139), and is commemorated in the JIussulman chapel erected on the summit of tiie mountain, which from this incident (rather than from any other) has taken the name of the .Mountain of IMoses (Jebel MAsa). A cavity is shown in tlie rock as produced by the pressure of the back of Moses when he shrank from the divine glory (Stanley, S. and P. p. 30). See Stemler, /Je Mose Je/io- vam a terr/o vidcn/e (Lips. 1730). See Sinai.